SWABIAN ALPS, GERMANY — You haven’t lived until you’ve revved to 9,000 ear-splitting rpm, felt the wind in your hair and seen the blurring scenery fly past. In the mountains. In a car destined for greatness.
The roads here wind their way around switchbacks, through valleys and small towns. The tarmac is glassy-surfaced and there are technically two lanes, but you wouldn’t know it … there’s no centre line.
The Porsche Spyder RS was born for roads like these.
The chassis is so perfectly balanced and the steering so direct, corners can be entered with a fury few cars can match and exited quickly, thanks to the zero-inertia power delivery of the flat-6.
To experience a car like this on roads leaves a truly indelible imprint on the memory.
The chassis is so perfectly balanced and the steering so direct, corners can be entered with a fury few cars can match and exited quickly, thanks to the zero-inertia power delivery of the flat-6, writes Dan Heyman.
Wheels.caThe 718 Boxster Spyder RS is the latest — and it is the last — version of Porsche’s midengine sports. The next generation is fully electric. We have a curtain call, and what a curtain call it is!
In simple terms, the Spyder RS is the droptop version of the , but it’s a little more complicated than that.
“A roadster has to have maximum lightness, maximum power, purity, and speed,” said Andreas Preuninger, head of Porsche GT vehicles.
Basically, the GT4 is a track car and Preuninger vehemently states that the Spyder RS is not. “It was not developed to be quick on the track,” he said. “We set the car up to use it on the road.”
Never mind the fact it has a race car engine and the last time we saw the words “RS” and “Spyder” on a Porsche, it was attached to a Le Mans class-winning racer.
With all that in mind, Porsche has softened the Spyder’s springs a little and modified the electronic power steering.
Don’t think that means anyone should be levelling the “grand touring” title at this particular Boxster, however! The dampers are firm and there are ultra-sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires and ultra-aggressive sports seats (softer items are a no-charge option), and that’s before we even get to the powertrain (the engine and parts that deliver power to the wheels), which is absolutely ballistic. As in: revving to 9,000 revolutions per minute (rpm) ballistic.
If that sounds race car-like, that’s because it uses the same four-litre, naturally-aspirated, flat-6 used by the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car.
The engine, revving to 9,000 rpm, is absolutely ballistic, writes Dan Heyman, who notes that the Spyder RS uses the same four-litre, naturally-aspirated, flat-6 used by the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car.
Wheels.caIn this form, it makes 493 hp and 332 pounds-feet of torque, sent to the rear wheels via a seven-speed PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission with a paddle-activated manual mode. That’s the only transmission choice; Porsche doesn’t make a manual gearbox that can handle the torque of that high-revving engine in a midengine configuration. It’s just the way the cookie crumbles, but it doesn’t take long behind the wheel of the Spyder RS to forget the cookie completely.
Actually, just looking at it makes you forget everything. The double-bubble rear canopy and roll hoops should be the most eye-catching features, but then you see the wheels and the aero fins ahead of those, as well as the extended ducktail rear spoiler. There’s too much to look at to name one single highlight. Even the front splitter, which has been reduced over that of the GT4, still looks the business.
The RS Spyder is hunkered down and purposeful and it very well may be the best-looking car you can get on the market today, anywhere.
The Weissach package costs an additional $14,350 (one of the only major options, along with ceramic brakes) and for that, you get carbon-fibre wing mirrors, air intake blades and seatbacks, a partially exposed carbon-fibre hood, and the option to select lightweight wheels and exhaust tips from the 911 GT2 RS-based 935 track special. The Spyder RS weighs in at just 1,410 kg, 40 kg less than a PDK-equipped Spyder and less even than the GT4. You can thank the aforementioned body panels for that, as well as other weight-saving measures such as nylon door pulls and a single-layer soft top.
Let’s just get this out of the way now: the soft top is a pain to install. It takes in and around 10 separate steps to deploy or stow, and comes in two pieces: the “hood” (read: roof) and the rear wind protector. You can leave the latter off, however, and get similar protection from the elements but still; it is quite the task and Porsche knows this, which is why they went so far as to suggest how much more weight you’d be saving (about 10 kilos) if you just left it behind.
The RS Spyder is hunkered down and purposeful and it very well may be the best-looking car you can get on the market today, anywhere, but the soft top is a pain to install, writes Dan Heyman.
Wheels.caSpeaking of the Germans; they may be best known for their speed-limit-free autobahnen, but there’s a dizzying network of fantastic secondary roads winding their way through the country that, as a driver, should not be missed. I spent my time in this car in the Swabian Alps region, not far from the Porsche mother ship in Stuttgart.
I knew the handling was going to be top drawer. The lightweighting, the sticky tires, the adaptive suspension all point to that. Which is why the most surprising part of the drive was actually its performance on straights. The PDK is whip-snap quick.
The whole experience is surreal. Cars like this are one in a million, really, and they should be celebrated because they are the pinnacles of automotive engineering and design. The numbers are spectacular, but to focus too heavily there would be to miss the very essence of what they represent: the thrill of tackling an open road in a car destined for greatness.
Greatness does come at a cost, of course; it’s $188,800 to start, or a clear 78 grand over a GTS 4.0, which can be had with a manual.
But this is the last gas-powered 718, and to get a chance to own one is worth its weight in gold.
